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Re: ANONYMOUS...please answer some ?'s about disability...

From: Jenny (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 8 Mar 2001 02:28:18 -0600 (CST)

I was diagnosed with PCOS, hyperinsulemia and hypothyroidism in December of 2000 and began taking synthroid, glucophage and an estrogen/progesterone combo. I have been sick for about 5 weeks now and have been unable to work due to constant nausea, horrible headaches, low grade fever and HORRIBLE cramping. My doctor doesn't even know what's going on. I've been going in every week so that he can test my insulin levels as well as my hormone levels. The only thing that has changed is my thyroid which is now in "normal" range. I don't know what the exact level of my PCOS related hormones are, but my insulin is around 40. My Doctor said he had really expected to see some change in the PCOS related hormones by now. He also noticed high protien levels in my liver (or was it kidney?) and changed me from Glucophage to Avandia (which is more expensive - of course!)

I got an e-mail from work tonight (see below) saying that they denied my short term disability claim which means that, in about three weeks, I'm probably going to end up loosing my house. I've had enormous medical bills in the past three months and have pretty much been living paycheck to paycheck as a result. My HR rep says:

>----- Original Message -----
From: "Pike" <anonymous@obgyn.net> To: <anonymous@obgyn.net> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2001 6:03 PM Subject: Your Medical Leave Status

> We have reviewed the "Attending Physician's Statement" which we received via
> fax from Friberg Medical Associates on Tuesday, February 27. Our assessment
> is that this documentation does not support your inability to perform your
> normal duties. If you disagree with this assessment you will need to submit
> objective medical documentation to support your disability.
>
> You have indicated in a recent e-mail that you are under the care of several
> doctors. Perhaps your condition, in fact, justifies your continued absence,
> however, the documentation you have supplied thus far is insufficient to
> demonstrate this. Unless you are able to produce such additional
> information, you will be expected to return to work.
>
> If you believe that you are unable to return to work immediately, you will
> need to have your doctor(s) provide the necessary documentation to support
> this in order for your salary continuation benefits to continue. This
> documentation will be required by Noon on Friday, March 9 to ensure
> continuation without interruption. To assist you, we will send our form,
> "Attending Physician's Statement" to your doctor(s) provided you supply us
> with their fax number(s) by Noon, Thursday, March 8.
>

I talked to my doctor who said he doesn't know what else to do; he said that he indicated that my recovery time was "long" and my return date was "uncertain at this point". I am at a loss. My HR rep obviously doesn't believe that my condition is serious and I'm seriously about to lose it over this. I have a copy of the statement that my Dr. sent to my employer, and I don't think he could have added anything either. I don't know what to do.

I thought that maybe I could enlist the help other PCOS sufferers who have been out of work for some period of time due to their illness. Obviously they don't understand how PCOS (and the related medications) can affect people. It also probably doesn't help that the HR department I'm dealing with is all male....probably makes them less receptive to "woman problems", but that may just be my anger at this situation speaking.

If you feel comfortable doing so, could you send a statement to my HR rep? His email is george_pike@sbpt.com I know this is asking a lot, but I'm about to loose my house and my future over someone not believing that PCOS problems are real. Any help you could give would be appreciated!!

If anyone has faced a similar situation at work - either with absenses or short term disability, could you please write to me? I would be very interested to hear how you resolved the situation.

Thanks in advance,

Jenny

At Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Lorrie wrote: >
>I'm the "ANONYMOUS" that you are trying to get ahold of! I e-mailed you
>in response but, you may not have gotten it! I was fired from my job
>basically for "being too sick"-even though I always had doctor's
>excuses. Is it hard to get disability? Absolutley! Impossible? NO! I
>fought for 2 years and had TONS and TONS of medical evidence. I finally
>had to hire an attorney and go to court. (after 2 denials from SSA) The
>bad news is that my disability isn't even enough to cover a month's
>rent. I live in Tennessee, by the way. I also have interstitial
>cystitis, fibromyalgia, depression and several other things. If you
>receive disability, your payment will be backdated to the date that you
>were first disabled. (minus the first 6 months) If you have any other
>questions, please feel free to e-mail me and I'll be happy to help you
>in any way I can! Take Care! :)
>>
>>I posted to you earlier but I am not sure if you got it. I was in hope
>>that you would not mind answering a few questions for me that would not
>>reveal your identity. The fact that you posted about being on
>>disability is what has moved me to post to you. I have been trying to
>>get on disability for the reason that I have been getting worse and
>>worse as time passes and have been told at the last 3 jobs that I had
>>that if I kept missing so much time (no matter what the reason, even
>>though I ALWAYS had Dr's excuse) that I was going to be fired. I did
>>not want that on my record so I chose to quit. I was in great hopes
>>that you could tell me if you had a rough time getting approved for your
>>disability, what state you are in, and did you have to supply info on
>>PCOS or just records from your Dr's. Thanks so much for taking the time
>>to answer my questions. Diane

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